


good on paper, picture perfect

by jaylove



Series: stars in your eyes (dust in your kiss) [1]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Birthday Fluff, F/M, Fluff, also mon mothma is a rebel captain ally gb, can also be read as a standalone, cassian's a spy in this but he hasn't told jyn, he forgets his birthday constantly and she just wants to celebrate the love of her life, rating is for cassian's effort to get some
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 16:43:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14140203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaylove/pseuds/jaylove
Summary: Cassian gets to come early, interrupting Jyn's surprise - and her awesome dance moves.Title is from Let Me Go - Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso(set before wished you would hurt me)





	good on paper, picture perfect

The shortest debrief of his life still swirls through Cassian's head as he slowly climbs the stairs.  
  
He'd done everything possible to get himself away from it faster. Left out details he normally wouldn't dare - spoke in a rush - even claimed that he'd twisted his ankle.  _Kay will be missing me, sir,_ guilt-tripping had been his last trick when Draven still hesitated,  _and it is my birthday._ Cassian had been prepared to speak at length about needing rest when Senator Mothma had dismissed him. The woman's smile suggested she could see straight through him, but he honestly didn't care. Almost two weeks had passed and, damn him, Cassian was ready to get home. There was someone waiting for him.  
  
When he reaches the door to his apartment, Cassian just takes a minute to lean his forehead against it. The air around him feels so much lighter already. Stress starts to fall from his shoulders in waves, lips tugging into a smile before he can stop them. He just breathes in that sense of peace before finally unlocking it and quietly entering. Around this time of day, she's probably out in the city with Kay. 

Another smile dares to cross his face as he's picturing her, imagining her surprise that he's back before he'd predicted, but it falters at the music.  
  
Cassian pads on tentative feet down the short hallways, freezing once he can peer into the kitchen. The music plays loudly, filling the space so fully he isn't sure how he can hear himself think, pulsing out from the laptop poised on the peninsula's far side. Alongside the  _suspiciously_ country-sounding party tune, a bell-like voice rises and falls with the melody. Amusement starts to color Cassian's face as he leans against the wall to simply watch. Even more than before, he's glad he managed to rush home so quickly.   
  
She dances around the small kitchen in shorts and her favorite old sleep-shirt. The NASA emblem is almost too faded to make out anymore. Her hair is pulled back into its usual bun, and her eyes are squeezed shut as she spins around. There's an uncommon relaxation spread across her features. At 2:35 in their shared apartment, she is free, happy enough to throw her head back to energetically belt out the lyrics. He simply watches, humor and fondness warring for dominance inside his chest. This is a side of her that he's only seen rare glimpses of before. (Usually in the early morning sunlight, when her past hasn't had chance to catch up to her again. Or those late-night giddy giggles when his long fingers find just the rights spots along her sides. Never in such broad daylight.) As much as he's missed her, he's more than content to let her have these few moments. She shines gloriously in the golden rays pouring through the windows.   
  
It's at the end of the chorus that she spins, striking a pose that makes him slap a hand to his mouth to silence his laughter. " _Man, I feel like a woman!_ " Jyn sing-speaks along to the song, opening her eyes at the end, and they land directly on Cassian. Immediately, a look of horror and shock take over her expression. He can't hold back the laughter any long. As he doubles over with it, dropping his bag in the process, she leaps to shut the music off. The apartment seems dead silent in the aftermath, which simply punctuates the humor of the situation.   
  
"So," Cassian manages to chuckle out the words, taking a deep breath as he meets her eyes again, "now I know what you do while I'm gone."  
  
Jyn responds with the usual level of tact he's come to love. "You aren't supposed to be home yet." She's still standing like a deer in the headlights, but her body language doesn't show any distress. Her cheeks are flushed from singing, dancing, and mild embarrassment. As Cassian takes a step forward, her shock finally seems to wear her off. Jyn crosses her arms and plants her feet, sending him a glare that stops his movement, even though there's no heat behind it.   
  
This is the hard part of his relationship with her. In his haste to get home, he hadn't stopped to come up with a cover story. Jyn just takes his sudden freeze as incentive to continue. Her voice is half whine, half groan. "You said you'd be home in time for  _dinner_!" She wipes at her cheek, and he realizes for the first time that she is covered in flour, the infamous NASA shirt speckled brown by something. The smell hits him immediately afterward. Warm chocolate wafts through the apartment enticingly. When Cassian glances over it, he notes that the counter's clearly been cleaned recently. Heat from the oven spikes the temperature up just above normal.  
  
(Jyn always runs cold, though, so he doubts she'd say the same thing.)  
  
"What do you have baking?" His voice is tinged with curiosity as he crosses the distance between them. Her posture dissolves once he's close, and Cassian gets his first smile in weeks. It's enough to make his knees go weak automatically. Without having to think, he reaches up, brushing a line of flour away with his thumb.  
  
She's pouting in the next moment, glaring at him without sincerity again. "Your birthday cake," and she adds, grumbled, "it was  _supposed_ to be a surprise." Jyn shrugs, leans casually to one side. He has a bad habit of pulling her to him when she does that.  
  
But today, Cassian freezes again, muscles tensing as he gawks at her. Cassian had forgotten it was his birthday again as soon as he'd finished using it against General Draven. It made sense, of course. She'd raised Hell when she found out Cassian hadn't told her the year before. Truthfully, he'd been so distracted by  _her,_ he hadn't even realized till it had passed. For all the commotion, he hadn't stopped to think she might actually want to do something. Jyn (and their relationship) was still such new territory. Having someone to love - and having someone who loved him in turn - continually caught Cassian by surprise. 

He snaps back to focus when her defenses start to go up. His hands shoot out, landing carefully on her arms, keeping her from turning away. "Sorry, sorry," Jyn looks back up at him, and he catches the flicker of fear in her eyes. This is just as new for her as it is him. Cassian gives her a shaky smile, tucking some rebellious strands of her hair away again. "I'm just - I'm used to it being Kay and I." They both relax slowly. She smiles back at him and he can't stand it anymore, leaning in to press a kiss to her forehead, pulling Jyn to him. A weight immediately lifts off his chest. She shifts in his grip just enough to get comfortable, arms wrapping just as tightly around his middle.

"I'm making dinner too," her words are muffled into his shoulder, "since  _that_ can't be a surprise anymore either."  
  
Cassian's laugh unsettles some of her hair, though his arms tighten around her a little. Nervousness leaks into his voice as he murmurs, "you really don't have to." He squeezes his eyes closed, breathes in the scent of her shampoo mixing with the baking cake, lets the very last of his guards drop.  _Home_ is the arms of a woman who sees something in him no one else has bothered to.  
  
She wiggles away to squint up at him, lips pursed in mock thought. "You're right, I really don't." Jyn pokes his side sharply. "So go play with your dumb dog before you mess up my schedule." Her nose scrunches up, and though Cassian knows she's joking, the scowl she gives him is definitely real. When Jyn gets a plan sorted out in her head, she does hate to have it disrupted. Looking as though she'd caught a bad smell, she'd told him it was what her father taught her, once. He'd decided to never actually question it.  
  
Now, though, he chuckles as he bumps their foreheads together. His hands rest easily on her hips, pulling her just a bit closer. "I did  _just_  get home," Cassian breathes out the words, lips teasingly close to hers. Jyn takes in a sharp inhale and goes still. Tilting his head further down, he ghosts a line of kisses along her jaw, stopping just below her ear to whisper, "what if I had a different schedule in mind?" They're too close for him to miss the shiver she tries to hide. The smug smirk already resting on his lips just grows, nosing her head to the side so he has better access to her neck.  
  
For once, Jyn doesn't take his bait. Her hands go to his shoulders, pushing him to arms-length, expression stern even with the blush highlighting her cheeks. "Nope. Not happening. That cake needs to come out soon so I've got a dessert to prepare." She jerks a thumb in the oven's direction.   
  
Cassian makes no effort to pull her back. He does play with the belt loops on her shorts, eyebrows raising as he considers her. "And if I want to eat dessert now?"

Jyn shudders, but doesn't give in, shoving him gently away. "Spend time with Kay and make yourself wait, birthday boy." She grins at him and he can't help a laugh. He's taken maybe two steps when she stops him, her fingers curling into the front of his shirt. Rising onto her tiptoes, Jyn presses a chaste kiss to his lips, Cassian's brain short-circuiting in immediate response. "I missed you," it's such a tender admission, one of her hands combing through his hair. A lump forms in his throat. He can't find the words to tell her what  _torture_ it felt like, now that they live together. So he just pulls her into another embrace, burying his face into the crook of her neck.

They aren't always good at this. Still, he knows she understands, recognizes not all of their  _I love you'_ s are spoken.  
  
He can't imagine what his life would be like if she were to ever leave now, just that it would be Hell.

**Author's Note:**

> this is set somewhere around three years before wished you had hurt me begins
> 
> i wanted to explore one of their happier moments before i start working on the next chapter, and the story behind cassian's recognition of "man! i feel like a woman" seemed like an excellent option (and i was right, this was a lot of fun to do)


End file.
